{Scrumptious} Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies

I made these cookies for the first time a few weeks ago, from a recipe I altered quite a bit to suite my own taste.  Then this weekend I mixed it up a little bit, and made little whoopie pies out of them.  I made the cookies half the size, and then put my cream cheese frosting in the middle.  You can find the recipe for the frosting here.    

I hope you all enjoy!  

Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

- 2 cups all purpose flour

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 1 teaspoon baking soda

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

- 1/4 teaspoon ginger

- 2 sticks unsalted butter

- 1 cup brown sugar, packed

- 1/2 cup white sugar

- 6 teaspoons vanilla

- 2 large eggs

- 2 1/2 cups quick oatmeal (not instant)

- 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots

- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger, and set the mixture aside.  

In a different bowl beat the butter and both sugars until the mixture is creamy.  Then mix in the eggs and the vanilla.  By hand, mix in the flour mixture until well combined.  Then one by one stir in the oatmeal, carrots, and the walnuts.  (I actually used my KitchenAid mixer for this whole part, using the flat beater.  On the "hand" mixing part, I just turned the speed to the slowest one.  If you don't have a stand mixer, definitely do it by hand.) 

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, and roll balls that equal about 1/4 of a cup.  I use an ice cream scoop to do this part.  Do not over crowd the cookies.  You should only be able to put about 6 cookies on each cookie sheet (8 for a pretty large cookie sheet).  

Bake for 17-18 minutes on the center rack of the oven, one sheet at a time.  This batch should make about 24 cookies.